Dharamshala, 15^th August: At least 110 Tibetans were held in Nagchu Prefecture’s Janglam village, Nyanrong County, on suspicion of sharing videos of preparations for a local horse racing festival. According to Phayul, citing Tibet Watch, 80 Tibetans have been released after being made to pay a monetary fine, but the identities of the other 30 inmates are unknown. “Local Chinese authorities conducted a meeting with the villagers around 9.30 in the morning,” an unidentified source said in the article. They instructed all the villagers to place their cellphones in a box on the table during the meeting and then conducted a search.

Eleven police officers were present at the meeting, according to reports, and they read out the names of 110 persons and transported them to the police station.” For the web content about the horse-racing celebration on August 9, a large number of local Tibetans were probed. According to the article, 80 Tibetans who were imprisoned had to pay a 5000 yuan charge in order to be released. However, Chinese officials had sent a warning to the guests prior to the event, threatening them with monetary fines and requiring weekly attendance at the police station if they took photos or films of the officials during the preparation and shared them online.

In 1950, Chinese troops invaded Tibet, which they ultimately conquered. Tibetans and Chinese soldiers clashed violently during the 1959 Tibetan rebellion. After a failed revolt against Chinese control, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped to India. The highest Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, created a government-in-exile in India. More than 10,000 Tibetans live in Dharamsala alone, with an estimated 160,000 Tibetans living in exile around the world. Since taking office in 2013, Xi has maintained a solid policy of tightening security control over Tibet. Buddhist monks and Dalai Lama adherents have been persecuted in Beijing.

On a variety of occasions, the United States has brought up the subject of human rights violations in Tibet. Wendy Sherman, the US Deputy Secretary of State, recently visited China to meet with Chinese authorities. Concerns regarding human rights breaches in Tibet, Hong Kong, and Eastern Turkestan were raised by her.

Photo Credit: sarahajenkins

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